The penultimate event of the European Tour season takes place this weekend when the International Darts Open is held out in Riesa in Germany. There are just two chances for those not yet in the European Championship to make it in, beginning here so this is a big weekend.
Gerwyn Price came out on top here a year ago and he is in the field looking to defend his title, with 31 other players eyeing up the £25,000 which will either get them into the European Championship or strengthen their seeding in it.
Recent Winners
2018 – Gerwyn Price
2017 – Peter Wright
2016 – Mensur Suljovic
2015 – Michael Smith
The Format
We are using the same format as last season for these tournaments which means that the last 32 of the tournament is played over two sessions of action on Saturday, with the last 16 on Sunday afternoon and the quarter finals on Sunday night. They are all the best-of-11 legs with the semi-finals also on Sunday evening. They are the best-of-13 and then the final in the same session is the best-of-15 legs. The draw has been pre-determined and is played in a straight knockout format.
Top Half
The defending champion Gerwyn Price is the second seed this week in the absence of Michael van Gerwen and he’ll look to defend the title successfully from the top half of the draw. He was beaten in the final of a Players Championship event in midweek so he’s in good form which means the other seven seeds – Jeffrey de Zwaan, Ricky Evans, Nathan Aspinall, Daryl Gurney, Steve Beaton, Krzysztof Ratajski and Glen Durrant – will all have to be in decent enough touch if they are going to get past him.
The qualifiers will be hoping to have a say in the piece as well with Danny Noppert one man who will be looking for a big weekend. The headline qualifiers in this half of the draw are the extremely talented pair of Kyle Anderson and Dimitri Van den Bergh while Luke Woodhouse will be out to surprise some as well. The remainder of the top half of the draw is made up by Michael Rosenauer, James Richardson, Justin Pipe and Joe Murnan.
Bottom Half
With Michael van Gerwen sitting this tournament out once again it is Ian White who is the number one seed. He is currently second in the European Tour Order of Merit but could close in on the number one seed for the European Championship significantly with a deep run here. Peter Wright, Mensur Suljovic, Adrian Lewis, Jonny Clayton, last week’s champion Joe Cullen, Rob Cross and Jamie Hughes are the seeded players who will be out to deny White his strong weekend.
John Henderson probably sets the standard for the qualifiers in this part of the draw while William O’Connor is in decent form. The other men who have made it through to this stage from the unseeded players are Ritchie Edhouse, Harry Ward, Richard North, Davy van Baelen, Steffen Siepmann and Steve West. This looks a competitive section but it would be a shock if the surprises don’t come later in the piece.
Betting
With no MVG in the field it is a little easier to take a place in each half of the draw and that is what I’ll do here. Dimitri Van den Bergh is currently inside the cut off for the European Championship but his place in the tournament is anything but secure so he could do with a good weekend here to ease the pressure on him and there is no reason why it can’t come. The top half of the draw looks wide open for someone who is playing well and given that he averaged nearly 99 in coming through on Friday we can assume the Belgian is doing exactly that. This is the time of year where we start to see some of the best darts from Van den Bergh and if we see that this weekend then he should run his half of the draw very close.
Jamie Hughes will definitely be in the main event so he can attack this tournament without much to lose. He is another who is in decent touch. In midweek he lost out in the Players Championship with an average in excess of 100 which is a decent standard setter. He should be expected to come past Steve West in the opening round on Saturday and while the event would get tougher than, Hughes showed in the Czech Open, which he took down earlier in the year, that he is more than capable of winning one of these things. He’s in the tougher of the two halves but remains a decent enough bet at 33s.
Tips
Back D.Van den Bergh to win International Darts Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back J.Hughes to win International Darts Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Betfair (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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